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| The Christmas Truce | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Phil Porter |
| Date premiered | 29 November 2014 |
| Place premiered | Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| Setting | Western Front, Christmas 1914 |
The Christmas Truce is a play by Phil Porter based on the true events during the First World War.
The play was produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and premiered in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon for the Christmas 2014 season, 100 years after the events. The play opened on 29 November 2014 (with a press night on 9 December) running until 31 January 2015 and was directed by Erica Whyman. [1] [2] [3]
During the development of the play, the RSC hosted a drop-in event encouraging the relatives of those who fought in the First World War to share stories, photos and letters at the Royal Shakespeare Company in March 2014. [4]
Stratford-upon-Avon, commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, 91 miles (146 km) north-west of London, 22 miles (35 km) south-east of Birmingham and 8 miles (13 km) south-west of Warwick. The town is the southernmost point of the Arden area on the edge of the Cotswolds. In the 2021 census Stratford had a population of 30,495.
Sir David Courtney Suchet is an English actor known for his work on stage and in television. He portrayed Edward Teller in the television serial Oppenheimer (1980) and received the RTS and BPG awards for his performance as Augustus Melmotte in the British serial The Way We Live Now (2001). International acclaim and recognition followed his performance as Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989–2013), for which he received a 1991 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) nomination.
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and on tour across the UK and internationally.
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) is a grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is located in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon – Shakespeare's birthplace – in the English Midlands, beside the River Avon. The building incorporates the smaller Swan Theatre. The Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres re-opened in November 2010 after undergoing a major renovation known as the Transformation Project.
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Michael Vivian Fyfe Pennington is a British actor, director and writer. Together with director Michael Bogdanov, he founded the English Shakespeare Company in 1986 and was its Joint Artistic Director until 1992. He has written ten books, directed in the UK, US, Romania and Japan, and is an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is popularly known as Moff Jerjerrod in the original Star Wars trilogy film Return of the Jedi.
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The Other Place is a black box theatre on Southern Lane, near to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It is owned and operated by the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 2006, an earlier version of the theatre closed and reopened as the temporary and larger Courtyard Theatre, while the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres were redeveloped. In March 2016, The Other Place was reinstated as a 200-seat studio theatre.
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The Courtyard Theatre was a 1,048 seat thrust stage theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, operated by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). It temporarily replaced The Other Place theatre during the redevelopment of the Royal Shakespeare (RST) and Swan Theatres. The last performance at The Courtyard Theatre took place in 2010. It was replaced by The Other Place in 2016, which returned as a 200-seat studio theatre in 2016.
Mary Ann "Buzz" Goodbody was an English theatre director. Associated with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) for almost all of her short career, Goodbody is remembered for her sometimes politically charged experimental work, and for establishing the RSC's first studio theatre in Stratford, The Other Place. She was the RSC's first female director.
Erica Whyman, OBE is an English theatre director who became deputy artistic director at the Royal Shakespeare Company in January 2013.
Hiran Abeysekera is a Sri Lankan actor. He won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the stage adaptation of Life of Pi. On television, he is known for his roles in Russell T Davies' A Midsummer Night's Dream (2016) and the tween dance series Find Me in Paris (2018–2019).
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